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>> It takes two hands to
count the number of

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candidates running for
Wisconsin governor in 2026.

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Tonight, we begin a series
of interviews with them,

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conducted by senior
political reporter Zac

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Schultz, which you'll see
on this program over the

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next three weeks. First up,
Republicans in the race. We

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start with a candidate with
solid name recognition.

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Wisconsin's seventh
congressional U.S.

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representative, Tom Tiffany.
>> Tom, Tiffany, thanks for

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joining us. For voters who
don't know who you are,

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introduce yourself and give
us a sense of why you're

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running for governor.
>> Yeah. Lifelong resident

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of Wisconsin. I grew up on
a dairy farm in western

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Wisconsin with my seven
brothers and sisters. We

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were up early in the
morning milking cows,

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I worked my way through UW
River falls, got an

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agricultural degree, and
then ultimately settled in

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the Northwoods where I met
my wife, Chris, and that's

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where we raised our three
daughters.

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that would say defines you,
or maybe a a lane within

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your political party that
may drive you?

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>> You know, I think one
thing that maybe a lot of

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people don't realize, the
reason I ran for the state

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Assembly back in 2010, when
I first gained elected

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office, was because of
fiscal responsibility. We

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had a $3 billion deficit at
that point, and that's

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always animated me. That
government should spend

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within its means.
>> How much money are you

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going to need to raise in
this primary and for the

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general election?
budgeting to raise $40

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million. We'll see if we
get there. But, you know,

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Wisconsin, because of that
pass through loophole, I

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call it the billionaire
loophole. There's just so

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much money that comes into
Wisconsin. But, you know,

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you can cry about it or you
can compete. We choose to

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compete. And but we're
we're hoping to raise $40

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million.
competitive primary. How do

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you personally define the
difference between negative

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campaigning versus defining
the differences or issues

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between you and an opponent?
>> You know, if you're just

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hurling mud at your
opponent, name calling,

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stuff like that, then I
don't I don't think that's

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how Wisconsin voters
talking about issues. And

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some people describe
negative campaigning as

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being that if you point out
differences, I think that's

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the important part of the
political process, is to

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point out the differences
between you and your

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opponent. And so that's
what I always try to do.

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>> As voters are tuning in.
Should they be more drawn

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to a candidate that has the
issues that align with them,

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or should they be thinking
about electability as well?

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>> For the primary,
electability is a is a big

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part of it, I think. I
think it's a combination of

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issues and electability.
Because if you're right on

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the issues, you're going to
gain some voters. And

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that's ultimately what it's
all about, is getting 50,

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50% plus one.
>> Obviously, you represent

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northern Wisconsin. What's
your what's your goal?

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What's your plan to reach
the rest of the state and

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introduce yourself there?
>> Well, we have a 72

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county strategy. Sometimes
Republicans have not done

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that, including ignoring
now in Dane County. We will

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not ignore Dane County, the
fastest growing county in

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the state. And but we have
a 72 county strategy, and

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we're going to cover every
bit of it.

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you think Donald Trump will
have on this election?

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>> You know, there will be
some, certainly. But I know

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one thing that Democrat,
whoever the Democrat

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candidate is, they will try
to make it about Donald

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Trump. And part of the
reason for that, I think,

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is that they don't have a
strong set of issues that

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have been animating them
that the voters want to

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hear. I mean, when you see
some of the stuff like

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defund the police or, you
know, boys and girls sports,

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stuff like that, most of
the voters in Wisconsin are

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like, yeah, we're not
buying that stuff. And so I

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think that's part of the
reason why they try to make

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President Trump the central
part of the campaign,

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rather than debating the
issues. I can assure the

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voters that I will be
voters that I will be